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Can someone comment on #5? I'm a total layman, so this may just be my ignorance, but isn't it refuting a strawman? It seems to be claiming that reducing intake

Can someone comment on #5? I'm a total layman, so this may just be my ignorance, but isn't it refuting a strawman? It seems to be claiming that reducing intake of the same substance reduces weight gain, but I've never heard anyone claim otherwise. Rather, the questions seems to concern whether (a) calories from different foods are equivalent for weight gain/loss purposes, and (b) whether different people eating the same amount of the same food would absorb the same calories. For example, I can imagine it being the case that if I cut my intake by 10%, I will gain 10% less weight, but another person would gain only 2% less weight. It might even depend on how much we are currently consuming, meaning some people could have a much harder time than others. He doesn't seem to even address these at all, let alone refute them?

1970-01-01 3y ago
It's mostly sugar doing the damage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#Consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#Consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#Obesity_and_metabolic_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#Obesity_and_metabolic_sy... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#Nutritional_displacement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#Nutritional_displacement
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
kcplate 3y ago
I agree with their take. I have lost a significant amount of weight and the mechanics was certainly calories in < calories out. What makes it difficult for obese people is that you need a sustained caloric deficit for a long period and your body makes it really difficult to do that. I was successful using a high fat low carb (keto) diet only because the calories I ate from fat helped activate my satiety feelings better than other diets and that helped me control my caloric intake for 2 years. Other diets I had tried failed to trigger that satiety level and made them unsustainable.
- prmph 3y ago
  But is anyone claiming otherwise? I’m not sure there is anyone on the face of the planet that will claim that a person will continue to be fat in perpetuity if they stop eating
  - kcplate 3y ago
    I think the controversy around the opinion is twofold. Some people don’t believe that it’s difficult to lose weight because “all you need need to do is eat less” without realizing or understanding how hard it is. With the direct opposite controversial opinion being that some people believe that it’s much more than just CICO because of how hard it is to eat less to lose weight with long periods of little to no weight loss despite a caloric deficit. I heard how easy it was for decades and generally it was from people who have never had a weight issue in their life. Frankly, they are clueless idiots. I also know from my own journey that your body definitely will fuck with you in some extraordinary ways that over the short term can make you suspicious that there is more to it than a calorie deficit. I went for 3 months with a definite calculable calorie deficit and lost nearly nothing. My body just decided to retain some fluid for a time and that threw off the scale. I powered through the frustration with the lack of progress and dropped double digits in a week and then weight loss gradually fell appropriately after whatever biological/metabolic box got ticked.
dale_glass 3y ago
I've seen the argument being made that some people's bodies are highly resistant to attempts at weight loss. Something along the lines of that if they try to go on a diet the body will fight the attempt to use stored fat so hard that they'll end up with low blood sugar and faint. I don't recall the exact argument being made but I think that's the overall gist -- not that it's possible to somehow violate thermodynamics, but that for some people it may be near impossible in practice while remaining healthy/functional for weird internal biochemistry reasons.
- porkbeer 3y ago
  That is 100% psudeoscience.

1970-01-01 3y ago

It's mostly sugar doing the damage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#Consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#Consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#Obesity_and_metabolic_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#Obesity_and_metabolic_sy... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#Nutritional_displacement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#Nutritional_displacement

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

kcplate 3y ago

I agree with their take. I have lost a significant amount of weight and the mechanics was certainly calories in < calories out. What makes it difficult for obese people is that you need a sustained caloric deficit for a long period and your body makes it really difficult to do that. I was successful using a high fat low carb (keto) diet only because the calories I ate from fat helped activate my satiety feelings better than other diets and that helped me control my caloric intake for 2 years. Other diets I had tried failed to trigger that satiety level and made them unsustainable.

prmph 3y ago
But is anyone claiming otherwise? I’m not sure there is anyone on the face of the planet that will claim that a person will continue to be fat in perpetuity if they stop eating
- kcplate 3y ago
  I think the controversy around the opinion is twofold. Some people don’t believe that it’s difficult to lose weight because “all you need need to do is eat less” without realizing or understanding how hard it is. With the direct opposite controversial opinion being that some people believe that it’s much more than just CICO because of how hard it is to eat less to lose weight with long periods of little to no weight loss despite a caloric deficit. I heard how easy it was for decades and generally it was from people who have never had a weight issue in their life. Frankly, they are clueless idiots. I also know from my own journey that your body definitely will fuck with you in some extraordinary ways that over the short term can make you suspicious that there is more to it than a calorie deficit. I went for 3 months with a definite calculable calorie deficit and lost nearly nothing. My body just decided to retain some fluid for a time and that threw off the scale. I powered through the frustration with the lack of progress and dropped double digits in a week and then weight loss gradually fell appropriately after whatever biological/metabolic box got ticked.

dale_glass 3y ago

I've seen the argument being made that some people's bodies are highly resistant to attempts at weight loss. Something along the lines of that if they try to go on a diet the body will fight the attempt to use stored fat so hard that they'll end up with low blood sugar and faint. I don't recall the exact argument being made but I think that's the overall gist -- not that it's possible to somehow violate thermodynamics, but that for some people it may be near impossible in practice while remaining healthy/functional for weird internal biochemistry reasons.

porkbeer 3y ago
That is 100% psudeoscience.